ASPIRING LAWYER

Your priorities should be (1) something you can get good grades in, and (2) something that will teach you to write well. Psychology might be good on (1) bit is probably mediocre on (2).

Don't go to law school unless you get a full ride or near a full ride. 

You can major in anything as long as your grades/LSAT numbers are good. As a result, you should major in something that gives you a good "out" in case you realize law school isn't for you (which is more likely than you probably realize).

I would recommend something like a) a hard science/engineering (which opens up patent law down the road), b) accounting (which opens up the ability to focus on tax law or estate planning or legal work for big 4 accounting firms, especially with a tax LLM), or c) management information systems + as many statistics classes as you can take (which probably won't help you find a better law job but will give you lots of consulting/business analyst options after your undergrad and these are good "starter" jobs, so you can make some cash if you want to take a year or two off before law school).

Make sure you're a good writer.

edit: If you're interested in attending law school in GA, PM me and we can talk more.
Edited by nerdykarim - 1/8/13 at 9:36pm

Is there a certain type of law you want to get into?

It's still a wise financial move to take out loans to go to a top ten or fifteen school. If you don't get into one of those, you should think long and hard about how badly you want to go.

I recommend Carmina or C&J.

 

I don't know if taking out $150-$200k in student loans is ever a good move. Although, the decision is mutlifaceted . For instance,  it's T3 or bust for academia. T14 gives him a good shot at BIGLAW, but I'd suggest avoiding BIGLAW unless you plan on having no life forever. If you aren't doing BIGLAW, then you're looking at lifestyle firms and small firms. These usually pay anywhere from 40-80k depending on the firm. You'll struggle to pay back $150-200k on those salaries in most cities. Not only that, but you'll find that the kids from the local lower tier schools are competing for those jobs, and lawyers will wonder why you didn't just go to your state flagship instead of a fancy pants school across the country. 

 

Here's a good idea for you. If you get the LSAT/GPA to get into a T14, apply to a few T25 schools. You'll find that the top 15-25% of those schools get BIGLAW, so you don't foreclose on the possibility. With the scores to get into a T14, you'll get a full ride at some of the T25 schools. More importantly, you'll get no strings attached offers. This means that even if you shit the bed your first year, you keep your scholarships. And quite frankly, if you don't want to put in the work to make top 25% at a T25, you probably won't be able to hit your billable requirements in BIGLAW.

 

Just my opinion, though. 

 

I wouldn't bother switching majors if it means you are going to have to spend more time in school and pay more money for it. In terms of getting into law school, the general advice is that admissions offices care most about your LSAT score and then your GPA.

 

If you can switch or do a double major (assuming you really like Psychology), then I think taking a major that provides a backup plan, as nerdykarim suggests, is good advice. I would second the advice about making sure you can write well.

 

You may want to look at the forum at top-law-schools.com which likely has a thread about this specific question.

I think now with the mass unemployment in all fields including law, if you're taking that big of a loan top 10 or bust.

You definitely need to pick a good major to fall back on. Psychology is worthless as an undergraduate degree. Economics is good preparation for law school.